A Norwegian heavy metal musician accused of inciting racial hatred denied posting racist blogs as he went on trial Tuesday in France, claiming they were penned by someone posing to be him.

Kristian Vikernes, 41, was arrested in July last year in France's central Correze region on suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks but was released after 48 hours due to lack of evidence.

He was however charged with inciting racial hatred and defending war crimes on his blog. Police allegedly found racist and anti-Semitic material on his computer as well.

"I did not write the things that appear in the summons," the Bergen-born musician told a Paris court.

Vikernes said a possible misunderstanding could have arisen because he communicated through a Danish interpreter when he was briefly held in custody last year.

The ten excerpts are taken from articles written between March and June 2013 and attack Muslims and Jews.

The rocker, who adopted the name of Varg ("wolf" in Norwegian), first made front-page news in August 1993 when he killed a fellow musician in Norway.

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Vikernes, who was also reportedly involved in arson attacks on churches, was sentenced to 21 years in prison. He was released after 16 and moved to Correze with his French wife soon after.

Vikernes told the court that according to Norwegian secret police there were "at any given moment 350 people pretending to be Varg Vikernes on Facebook", adding that "anybody can very easily put up a blog" that appeared to be one of his.